Andrew Motion
Encyclopedia
Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL
(born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
from 1999 to 2009.
near Braintree
in Essex
. After being sent, at the age of seven, to boarding school, was educated at Radley College
. Here, in the sixth form, he encountered Mr Wray, an inspiring English teacher who introduced him to poetry – first Hardy
, then Philip Larkin
, W H Auden, Heaney
, Hughes
, Wordsworth and Keats. The Sunday Times. 14 September 2008. Profile: Andrew Motion, the poet laureate When he was 17 years old, his mother had a riding accident and spent the next nine years in and out of a coma before dying. Motion has said that he wrote to keep his memory of his mother alive and she was a muse of his work.Andrew Motion Official website Accessed 12 July 2010 In the years that followed, he read English at University College, Oxford
, where he studied with W. H. Auden
in weekly sessions. Motion says “I worshipped him the other side of idolatry and it was like spending an hour each week in the presence of God.” He won the university's Newdigate Prize
and graduated with a first class degree.
Between 1976 and 1980, Motion taught English at the University of Hull
and while there, at age 24, he had his first volume of poetry published. At Hull he met university Librarian and poet Philip Larkin
. Motion was later appointed as one of Larkin's literary executors which would privilege Motion's role as his biographer following Larkin's death in 1985. In Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life, Motion says that at no time during their nine year friendship did they discuss writing his biography and it was Larkin's long time companion Monica Jones
who requested it. He reports how, as executor, he rescued many of Larkin's papers from imminent destruction following his friend's death. His 1993 biography of Larkin, which won the Whitbread Prize for Biography
, was responsible for bringing about a substantial revision of Larkin's reputation.
Motion was Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus (1983–89), he edited the Poetry Society
's Poetry Review from 1980–1982 and succeeded Malcolm Bradbury
as Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia
. In 2003, he became Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London
.
In 2011 he took part in Jamie's Dream School
.
Twice married, he has two sons and one daughter and lives in Islington, north London.
The Independent
describes the stalwart poet as the "charming and tireless defender of the art form". Motion has won the Arvon
Prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
, Eric Gregory Award
, Whitbread Prize for Biography
and the Dylan Thomas Prize
.British Council Biography
He will also be partaking in the Bush Theatre
's 2011 project Sixty Six where he has written a piece based upon a chapter of the King James Bible
, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize
-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney
had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack
.
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC
about liberty, about homelessness for the Salvation Army
, about bullying for ChildLine
, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the Today programme, about the Paddington rail disaster
, the 11 September attacks and Harry Patch
for the BBC, and more recently about shell shock
for the charity Combat Stress
, and climate change for the song cycle I've finished for Cambridge University with Peter Maxwell Davies
." In 2003, Motion wrote Regime change, a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict, and in 2005, Spring Wedding in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales
to Camilla Parker Bowles. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109 year old Harry Patch, the last surviving 'Tommy
' to have fought in World War I, Motion composed a five part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells
in 2008. As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.
Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to [his] work". The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters. As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in The Guardian
which concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry."
Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater, Radley College
, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was. Carol Ann Duffy
succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.
. Since July 2009, Motion has been Chairman of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
(MLA) appointed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
. He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library
, a charity which provides funding support to the British Library
. He was knighted
in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours list. He has been a member of English Heritage
's Blue Plaques Panel since 2008.
Motion was selected as jury chair for the Man Booker Prize
2010 and in March 2010, he announced that he was working with publishers Jonathan Cape
on a sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson
's Treasure Island
. Entitled Return to Treasure Island, the story is set a generation on from the original book and it is expected to be published in 2012. In July 2010, Motion returned to Kingston-upon-Hull for the annual Humber Mouth literature festival and taking part in the Larkin 25
festival commemorating the 25th anniversary of Philip Larkin
's death. In his capacity as Larkin's biographer and as a former lecturer in English at the University of Hull
, Motion named an East Yorkshire Motor Services
bus Philip Larkin.
On 24 February 2011 it was announced that Motion's debut play Incoming
about the war in Afghanistan would premiere at the High Tides Festival in Halesworth Suffolk on 1 May 2011.
Motion also featured in Jamie's Dream School
in 2011 as the Poetry teacher
For further details see links.
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
(born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
The Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the Poet Laureate, is the Poet Laureate appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Prime Minister...
from 1999 to 2009.
Life and career
Motion was born in London and raised in StistedStisted
Stisted is a civil parish, Church of England parish, and former manor near Braintree, Essex, England. Andrew Motion, a former Poet Laureate, was raised there.-History of Stisted:...
near Braintree
Braintree, Essex
Braintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.Braintree has grown contiguous...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. After being sent, at the age of seven, to boarding school, was educated at Radley College
Radley College
Radley College , founded in 1847, is a British independent school for boys on the edge of the English village of Radley, near to the market town of Abingdon in Oxfordshire, and has become a well-established boarding school...
. Here, in the sixth form, he encountered Mr Wray, an inspiring English teacher who introduced him to poetry – first Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, then Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
, W H Auden, Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
, Hughes
Ted Hughes
Edward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...
, Wordsworth and Keats. The Sunday Times. 14 September 2008. Profile: Andrew Motion, the poet laureate When he was 17 years old, his mother had a riding accident and spent the next nine years in and out of a coma before dying. Motion has said that he wrote to keep his memory of his mother alive and she was a muse of his work.Andrew Motion Official website Accessed 12 July 2010 In the years that followed, he read English at University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
, where he studied with W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
in weekly sessions. Motion says “I worshipped him the other side of idolatry and it was like spending an hour each week in the presence of God.” He won the university's Newdigate Prize
Newdigate prize
Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has been admitted to Oxford within the previous four years. It was founded by Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt in the 18th century...
and graduated with a first class degree.
Between 1976 and 1980, Motion taught English at the University of Hull
University of Hull
The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
and while there, at age 24, he had his first volume of poetry published. At Hull he met university Librarian and poet Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
. Motion was later appointed as one of Larkin's literary executors which would privilege Motion's role as his biographer following Larkin's death in 1985. In Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life, Motion says that at no time during their nine year friendship did they discuss writing his biography and it was Larkin's long time companion Monica Jones
Monica Jones
Margaret Monica Beale Jones was an academic and long-term companion of the poet, Philip Larkin. Born in Llanelli, South Wales, she moved with her family to Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire when aged seven...
who requested it. He reports how, as executor, he rescued many of Larkin's papers from imminent destruction following his friend's death. His 1993 biography of Larkin, which won the Whitbread Prize for Biography
1994 Whitbread Awards
The Whitbread Awards are among the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary awards. They were launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience...
, was responsible for bringing about a substantial revision of Larkin's reputation.
Motion was Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus (1983–89), he edited the Poetry Society
Poetry Society
The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry".The Society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society in 1912...
's Poetry Review from 1980–1982 and succeeded Malcolm Bradbury
Malcolm Bradbury
Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury CBE was an English author and academic.-Life:Bradbury was the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 with his brother and mother...
as Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
. In 2003, he became Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
.
In 2011 he took part in Jamie's Dream School
Jamie's Dream School
Jamie's Dream School is a seven-part British television documentary series made by Fresh One Productions, first aired on Channel 4. In it, Jamie Oliver enrols a group of teenagers with fewer than five GCSEs into his "Dream School" - a school in which lessons are taught by celebrities who are...
.
Twice married, he has two sons and one daughter and lives in Islington, north London.
Works
Motion has said of himself: ‘My wish to write a poem is inseparable from my wish to explain something to myself’. His work combines lyrical and narrative aspects in a 'postmodern-romantic sensibility'.His an author's statement, Motion describes further the intention of his work:
My poems are the product of a relationship between a side of my mind which is conscious, alert, educated and manipulative, and a side which is as murky as a primaeval swamp. I can't predict when this relationship will flower. If I try to goad it into existence I merely engage with one side of my mind or the other, and the poem suffers. I want my writing to be as clear as water. No ornate language; very few obvious tricks. I want readers to be able to see all the way down through its surfaces into the swamp. I want them to feel they're in a world they thought they knew, but which turns out to be stranger, more charged, more disturbed than they realised. In truth, creating this world is a more theatrical operation than the writing admits, and it's this discretion about strong feeling, and strong feeling itself, which keeps drawing me back to the writers I most admire: Wordsworth, Edward ThomasEdward ThomasEdward Thomas may refer to:People:*Edward Beers Thomas, American judge*Edward J. Thomas , librarian and author of several books on the history of Buddhism*Edward Lloyd Thomas, Confederate American Civil War general...
, Philip LarkinPhilip LarkinPhilip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
.
The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
describes the stalwart poet as the "charming and tireless defender of the art form". Motion has won the Arvon
Arvon Foundation
The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which promotes creative writing. It is based in the Free Word Centre for literature, literacy and free expression in London.-History:...
Prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom...
, Eric Gregory Award
Eric Gregory Award
The Eric Gregory Award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under 30 on submission. The awards are up to a sum value of £24000 annually....
, Whitbread Prize for Biography
1994 Whitbread Awards
The Whitbread Awards are among the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary awards. They were launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience...
and the Dylan Thomas Prize
Dylan Thomas Prize
The Dylan Thomas Prize is the world’s top cash prize for young writers. The annual prize, named in honor of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a cash award of £30,000 . It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of thirty. The prize...
.British Council Biography
He will also be partaking in the Bush Theatre
Bush Theatre
The Bush Theatre is based in Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 above The Bush public house by Brian McDermott, and has since become one of the most celebrated new writing theatres in the world. An intimate venue renowned for its close-up...
's 2011 project Sixty Six where he has written a piece based upon a chapter of the King James Bible
Poet laureate
Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted HughesTed Hughes
Edward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...
, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack
Sack (wine)
Sack is an antiquated wine term referring to white fortified wine imported from mainland Spain or the Canary Islands. There were sack of different origins such as:* Canary sack from the Canary Islands,* Malaga sack from Málaga,...
.
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
about liberty, about homelessness for the Salvation Army
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
, about bullying for ChildLine
ChildLine
ChildLine is a free 24 hour counselling service for children and young people up to 18 in the UK provided by the NSPCC. ChildLine deals with any issue which causes distress or concern, common issues dealt with include child abuse, bullying, parental separation or divorce, pregnancy and substance...
, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the Today programme, about the Paddington rail disaster
Ladbroke Grove rail crash
The Ladbroke Grove Rail Crash was a rail accident which occurred on 5 October 1999 at Ladbroke Grove, London, England. Thirty-one people were killed and more than 520 injured...
, the 11 September attacks and Harry Patch
Harry Patch
Henry John "Harry" Patch , known in his latter years as "the Last Fighting Tommy", was a British supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches of the First World War...
for the BBC, and more recently about shell shock
Combat stress reaction
Combat stress reaction , in the past commonly known as shell shock or battle fatigue, is a range of behaviours resulting from the stress of battle which decrease the combatant's fighting efficiency. The most common symptoms are fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one's...
for the charity Combat Stress
Combat Stress
Combat Stress is a UK charity offering residential treatment to ex-servicemen and women suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health issues....
, and climate change for the song cycle I've finished for Cambridge University with Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
." In 2003, Motion wrote Regime change, a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict, and in 2005, Spring Wedding in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
to Camilla Parker Bowles. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109 year old Harry Patch, the last surviving 'Tommy
Tommy Atkins
Tommy Atkins is a term for a common soldier in the British Army that was already well established in the 19th century, but is particularly associated with World War I. It can be used as a term of reference, or as a form of address. German soldiers would call out to "Tommy" across no man's land if...
' to have fought in World War I, Motion composed a five part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells
Bishop's Palace, Wells
The Bishop's Palace, Wells, Somerset, England, is adjacent to Wells Cathedral and has been the home of the Bishops of the Diocese of Bath and Wells for 800 years....
in 2008. As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.
Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to [his] work". The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters. As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
which concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry."
Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater, Radley College
Radley College
Radley College , founded in 1847, is a British independent school for boys on the edge of the English village of Radley, near to the market town of Abingdon in Oxfordshire, and has become a well-established boarding school...
, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was. Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy, CBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's poet laureate in May 2009...
succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.
Post Laureateship
He continues Chairman of the Arts Council of England's Literature Panel (appointed 1996) and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of LiteratureRoyal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
. Since July 2009, Motion has been Chairman of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council is a non-departmental public body in England and a registered charity with a remit to promote improvement and innovation in the area of museums, libraries and archives...
(MLA) appointed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
. He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library
Friends of the British Library
The Friends of the British Library is a registered charitable organisation in the UK with close links to the British Library. It provides funding in the form of grants to the British Library in order to allow the Library to acquire new items and collections, procure new equipment and facilities,...
, a charity which provides funding support to the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
. He was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours list. He has been a member of English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
's Blue Plaques Panel since 2008.
Motion was selected as jury chair for the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
2010 and in March 2010, he announced that he was working with publishers Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
on a sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
. Entitled Return to Treasure Island, the story is set a generation on from the original book and it is expected to be published in 2012. In July 2010, Motion returned to Kingston-upon-Hull for the annual Humber Mouth literature festival and taking part in the Larkin 25
Larkin 25
Larkin 25 was an arts festival and cultural event in Kingston upon Hull, England, organised to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of the poet and University of Hull librarian, Philip Larkin...
festival commemorating the 25th anniversary of Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
's death. In his capacity as Larkin's biographer and as a former lecturer in English at the University of Hull
University of Hull
The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
, Motion named an East Yorkshire Motor Services
East Yorkshire Motor Services
East Yorkshire Motor Services is a large bus and coach operator which operates throughout Kingston upon Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, the North Yorkshire coast and the North York Moors. In and around Scarborough, EYMS operates as Scarborough & District Motor Services...
bus Philip Larkin.
On 24 February 2011 it was announced that Motion's debut play Incoming
Incoming (play)
Incoming is the first play by the British poet Andrew Motion. It premiered in May 2011 at The Cut in Halesworth. It centres on a soldier killed during the war in Afghanistan and his death's impact on his widow....
about the war in Afghanistan would premiere at the High Tides Festival in Halesworth Suffolk on 1 May 2011.
Motion also featured in Jamie's Dream School
Jamie's Dream School
Jamie's Dream School is a seven-part British television documentary series made by Fresh One Productions, first aired on Channel 4. In it, Jamie Oliver enrols a group of teenagers with fewer than five GCSEs into his "Dream School" - a school in which lessons are taught by celebrities who are...
in 2011 as the Poetry teacher
Selected honours and awards
- 1975: won the Newdigate prizeNewdigate prizeSir Roger Newdigate's Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has been admitted to Oxford within the previous four years. It was founded by Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt in the 18th century...
for Oxford undergraduate poetry - 1976: Eric Gregory AwardEric Gregory AwardThe Eric Gregory Award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under 30 on submission. The awards are up to a sum value of £24000 annually....
- 1981: wins Arvon FoundationArvon FoundationThe Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which promotes creative writing. It is based in the Free Word Centre for literature, literacy and free expression in London.-History:...
's International Poetry Competition with The Letter - 1984: John Llewellyn Rhys PrizeJohn Llewellyn Rhys PrizeThe John Llewellyn Rhys Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom...
for Dangerous Play: Poems 1974–1984 - 1986: Somerset Maugham AwardSomerset Maugham AwardThe Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each May by the Society of Authors. It is awarded to whom they judge to be the best writer or writers under the age of thirty-five of a book published in the past year. The prize was instituted in 1947 by William Somerset Maugham and thus...
for The Lamberts - 1987: Dylan Thomas PrizeDylan Thomas PrizeThe Dylan Thomas Prize is the world’s top cash prize for young writers. The annual prize, named in honor of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a cash award of £30,000 . It is open to published writers in the English language under the age of thirty. The prize...
for Natural Causes - 1999: appointed Poet LaureatePoet LaureateA poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
for ten years - 1994: Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life wins the Whitbread Prize for Biography1994 Whitbread AwardsThe Whitbread Awards are among the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary awards. They were launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience...
- 2009: Knighthood
Poetry
- 1972: Goodnestone: a sequence. Workshop Press
- 1976: Inland. Cygnet Press
- 1977: The Pleasure Steamers. Sycamore Press
- 1981: Independence. Salamander Press
- 1983: Secret Narratives. Salamander Press
- 1984: Dangerous Play: Poems 1974-1984. Salamander Press / Penguin
- 1987: Natural Causes. Chatto & Windus
- 1988: Two Poems. Words Ltd
- 1991: Love in a Life. Faber and Faber
- 1994: The Price of Everything. Faber and Faber
- 1997: Salt Water'.' Faber and Faber
- 1998: Selected Poems 1976–1997. Faber and Faber
- 2001: A Long Story. The Old School Press
- 2002: Public Property. Faber and Faber
- 2009: The Cinder Path. Faber and Faber
Criticism
- 1980: The Poetry of Edward ThomasEdward ThomasEdward Thomas may refer to:People:*Edward Beers Thomas, American judge*Edward J. Thomas , librarian and author of several books on the history of Buddhism*Edward Lloyd Thomas, Confederate American Civil War general...
. Routledge & Kegan Paul - 1982: Philip LarkinPhilip LarkinPhilip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
. (Contemporary Writers series) Methuen - 1986: Elizabeth BishopElizabeth BishopElizabeth Bishop was an American poet and short-story writer. She was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956 and a National Book Award Winner for Poetry in 1970. Elizabeth Bishop House is an artists' retreat in Great Village, Nova Scotia...
. (Chatterton Lectures on an English Poet) - 1998: Sarah Raphael: Strip!. Marlborough Fine Art (London)
- 2008: Ways of Life: On Places, Painters and Poets. Faber and Faber
Biography and memoir
- 1986: The Lamberts: GeorgeGeorge Washington LambertGeorge Washington Thomas Lambert ARA was an Australian artist, known principally for portrait paintings and as a war artist during the First World War.-Early life:...
, ConstantConstant LambertLeonard Constant Lambert was a British composer and conductor.-Early life:Lambert, the son of Russian-born Australian painter George Lambert, was educated at Christ's Hospital and the Royal College of Music...
and KitKit LambertChristopher "Kit" Sebastian Lambert was a record producer and the manager for The Who.-Early life:Kit Lambert was the son of noted composer, Constant Lambert...
. Chatto & Windus - 1993: Philip LarkinPhilip LarkinPhilip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
: A Writer's Life. Faber and Faber - 1997: Keats: A Biography. Faber and Faber
- 2006: In the Blood: A Memoir of my Childhood. Faber and Faber
Fiction
- 1989: The Pale Companion. Penguin
- 1991: Famous for the Creatures. Viking
- 2003: The Invention of Dr Cake. Faber and Faber
- 2000: Wainewright the Poisoner: The Confessions of Thomas Griffiths WainewrightThomas Griffiths WainewrightThomas Griffiths Wainewright was an English artist, writer and criminal, widely believed to have been a multiple poisoner.-Early life:...
(biographical novel)
Edited works, introductions, and forwards
- 1981: Selected Poems: William BarnesWilliam BarnesWilliam Barnes was an English writer, poet, minister, and philologist. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect and much other work including a comprehensive English grammar quoting from more than 70 different languages.-Life:He was born at Rushay in the parish of Bagber, Dorset, the son of...
. Penguin Classics - 1982: The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry with Blake MorrisonBlake MorrisonPhilip Blake Morrison is a British poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs And When Did You Last See Your Father? which won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. He has also written a...
. Penguin - 1994: Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
: Selected Poems. Dent - 1993: New Writing 2 (With Malcolm BradburyMalcolm BradburySir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury CBE was an English author and academic.-Life:Bradbury was the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 with his brother and mother...
). Minerva in association with the British Council - 1994: New Writing 3 (With Candice Rodd). Minerva in association with the British Council
- 1997: Penguin Modern Poets: Volume 11 with Michael DonaghyMichael DonaghyMichael Donaghy was an award-winning New York poet and musician, who lived in London from 1985.-Life and career:...
and Hugo WilliamsHugo WilliamsHugo Williams is a British poet, journalist and travel writer. His full name is Hugh Mordaunt Vyner Williams He is the son of actor Hugh Williams and the model and actress Margaret Vyner, who co-wrote some upper-middle-class comedies in the late 1950s...
. Penguin - 1998: Take 20: New Writing. University of East Anglia
- 1999: Verses of the Poets Laureate: From John DrydenJohn DrydenJohn Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
to Andrew Motion. With Hilary Laurie. Orion. - 1999: Babel: New Writing by the University of East Anglia's MA Writers. University of East Anglia.
- 2001: Firsthand: The New Anthology of Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. University of East Anglia
- 2002: Paper Scissors Stone: New Writing from the MA in Creative Writing at UEAUniversity of East AngliaThe University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
. University of East Anglia. - 2001: The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction & Poetry. With Julia Bell. Macmillan
- 2000: John KeatsJohn KeatsJohn Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
: Poems Selected by Andrew Motion. Faber and Faber - 2001: Here to Eternity: An Anthology of Poetry. Faber and Faber
- 2002: The Mays Literary AnthologyMay AnthologiesThe Mays Literary Anthology is an anthology of new writing by students from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. In 1992, when Peter Ho Davies, Adrian Woolfson, and Ron Dimant came up with the original concept for the Mays, the publication was split into two separate...
; Guest editor. Varsity Publications - 2003: 101 Poems Against War Faber and Faber (Afterword)
- 2003: First World War Poems. Faber and Faber
- 2006: Collins Rhyming Dictionary. Collins
- 2007: Bedford Square 2: New Writing from the Royal Holloway Creative Writing Programme. John Murray Ltd.
For further details see links.
External links
- Profile and poems written and audio at the Poetry Archive
- Profile at Poets.org
- National Portrait Gallery portraits
- Guardian profile 13 December 2005 "Andrew Motion: Mr Speaker". Guardian "Andrew Motion on war poetry". Interview and reading. 27 July 2009 (Video, 8 mins)
- BBC profile. BBC interview "Andrew Motion on being Poet Laureate" (Video, 4 mins). BBC interview "Andrew Motion's Hindu Wood Carving" (Video 4 mins)
- A chapter from Keats, about John Keats, Fanny Brawne, and his poem for her, "Bright Star"